“He said it after he asked Mama for a dog and she told him no.”
“Kale.” Willa had noticed her son becoming angrily silent and walking away after she had told him he couldn’t have a puppy like the one Razer had given his children.
“Go play,” Lucky ordered. “Kale, we will discuss how to control your temper and your language tonight.”
“Yes, sir.” Both children ran off to play with their older brother.
Lucky waited until they were out of earshot before chuckling.
“It’s not funny,” Willa snapped. “He needs to control his temper.”
“Siren, he can’t help it. He takes after his mother.” Lucky leaned toward her, giving her a kiss that melted her indignation. When he straightened, she could tell he wanted to get something off his mind. Unfortunately, she knew what it was. They’d had the same conversation many times before.
“He wants a dog. All the kids do.”
“I know, but I can’t,” she said, her expression filled with pain. The passing years hadn’t taken away the pain or the guilt of losing Ria.
“She was trained to be a protector from the time she was a pup. She wanted to save your life. She would have been proud. If you hadn’t survived, our children would have never been born.”
Willa wiped the tear sliding down her cheek away, cuddling her son closer to her chest.
“I gave her away.” Willa sobbed, revealing her secret anguish. “I was so hurt I couldn’t look at her and not think about you. I didn’t care if she cost twenty thousand dollars. I thought, if she wasn’t there, I wouldn’t think about you so much.”
“I know it wasn’t about the money,” Lucky spoke soothingly. “You’re the most generous woman I know. The whole town depends on your foundations from the schools to the women’s abuse shelter. You turned around; you were coming back for her. You weren’t able to leave her. You’re not capable of giving up someone you love.” Lucky nuzzled her neck as he reached out to stroke his baby’s soft cheek.
Willa regained her composure, not wanting the children to see her cry.
She gave a hiccupping laugh. “I don’t know about that. I didn’t like you very much when Jenna was your girlfriend.”
Lucky straightened up, staring into her eyes. “Jenna was never my girlfriend. I’ve only had three girlfriends my whole life. One was Ava, whom I dated in high school and thought I was going to marry. Beth was the second, and you were my third and still are the only one I ever loved.”
“Your fingers are crossed.” Willa looked down at his hands. “I’m not the only one you loved.”
Lucky stared at her seriously, his eyes hurt. “I can prove it.”
He shifted, reaching into his back pocket and pulling out his wallet. Willa watched curiously as he opened it and pulled out a thin strip of paper before he showed it to her.
Willa’s mouth dropped open in surprise. She had wondered on and off for years what had happened to the pictures from the photo booth.
“You’ve had them?”
“Yes, I took them because I didn’t want you to see them.” Lucky’s voice was filled with emotion.
She stared at the pictures, barely glancing at herself. Instead, she was focused on the raw emotion on Lucky’s face that she had been too shy to recognize when they had been in the photo booth.
His face was filled with hunger, which was what she had remembered from that night, but one captured the love that he couldn’t hide for a split second.
“Lucky…”
“You have been and always will be my only love,” Lucky choked out, sliding the pictures back inside his wallet.
“I want those.”
“Nope, they’re mine, just like you are.” He grinned, leaning forward to brush back her hair then placing a possessive kiss behind her ear on the micro tattoo of a swan.
Willa gazed up at his perfect face that grew more handsome each year they were married. Her husband would always be beautiful, both inside and out.
“Tonight at dinner, we’ll tell the children they can have a puppy,” Willa relented then quickly added, “a normal dog from the pound.”
“All right, but I’m still going to get her trained by Colt.”
Willa liked the thought of the children having a canine protector watching over them. It would be painful at first, but it was time to let the children have one to bond with and grow alongside them.
“Here, let me hold him for a while.”
Willa handed Lucky his child.
“He’s as heavy as a couple of bricks already,” Lucky boasted proudly, gazing down at his son like he had all his children, filled with love.
This child, she could tell, already held a special place in his heart. They had named him Hunter. Lucky swore his name would make him a mighty hunter for the Lord, but Willa knew exactly who their son was named after.
“My lucky number seven.”